No One Is Making Sense On Syria

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) released a statement late Thursday following a conference call briefing between Congressional leaders and the Obama administration that expressed her support for potential "measured, targeted and limited" military action in Syria. "What Assad has done is outside the realm of basic human rights. On this evening's call, I expressed my appreciation for the measured, targeted and limited approach the President may be considering," Pelosi said in the written statement.

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So the responsible mainstream progressive legislative position on the whole matter is that we should bomb Assad's country just enough to express our disapproval, but not enough so that the guy who went "outside the realm of basic human rights" loses his job. Exactly how many Syrians have to die in order for our disapproval to be properly expressed remains unclear.

The whole debate is surreal. The country doesn't want this. The Brits don't want it. Most of the Syrians, I'd imagine, aren't exactly looking forward to the duck-and-cover competition come their way. And it's still a proposed military action based on sending messages. And one of the consequences of that is we get to see Marco Rubio, onetime rising star in the Republican party, step on another rake. Whap!

"We are now left with no good options," Rubio said in a statement. "Failing to act would further embolden Assad and his Iranian sponsors, leaving the impression that America is feckless and impotent," Rubio said. "And a limited attack would do nothing to change the dynamics of the conflict, but could trigger a broader and even more dangerous conflict in the region."

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If you can navigate your way through the thickets of bafflegab there, you find (I think) that Rubio would have supported a massive military incursion a few months ago, but it's too late now, and we're left with a choice between The Emboldening and The Triggering and besides that...IRAN! What do we have for the runners-up, Johnny?

Forget the missiles and just feed the damn refugees, OK? It won't get you a Christmas card from John McCain, but it makes more sense than anything else on offer at the moment.